In Food & Wine, chefs are a part of the family. This is why our editors have dedicated hundreds of hours and thousands of meals for more than three years to finding and identifying the most promising young chefs in America. Our list has over 400 names, comprising some of the nation’s most renowned culinary talents. We’re incredibly pleased to say that we’ve spent as much time identifying those chefs as aiding them in their dazzling careers. We consider it a privilege to share the vision of many legendary chefs.
One of our favorite (and certainly the most fun) ways to achieve this is to introduce their fantastic recipes -all of which have been tried and accepted by the F&W test kitchen in the kitchens of home cooks worldwide. We’ve selected our top Recipes from the Best New Chefs over the past 30 years. Everything is from sophisticated crisps with smoking Salmon (from 1988 F&W Top New Chef Thomas Keller) to over-the-top prime ribs with sour cherry preserves (from 2017. F&W Top Young Chef Angie Mar). Cook these dishes and get inspired by the most talented chefs in America.
Smoked Salmon Crisps
Thomas Keller’s salmon cornets (tiles shaped into cones garnished with creme fraiche and fresh Salmon) are the most well-known kickoff to his lavish and wacky dinners. The original recipe is found in the French Laundry Cookbook. Converting the tuiles into cones is challenging and requires working exceptionally quickly with a cornet mold’s help. Instead, you can leave the tiles flat, similar to crackers, and then cover them with a layer.
Spanish-style Pasta Salad topped with Tuna along with Marinated Tomatoes.
Spanish pantry staples such as piparra peppers, which are mildly spicy and sweet. Peppers and the tangy sherry vinaigrette give a bold taste to this hearty pasta dish from the 2015 F&W The Best Chef Katie Button. “I love this pasta salad because it incorporates fresh summer ingredients, like tomatoes and herbs, with staples I already have on hand in the pantry,” she states. “It’s a perfect low-cook dish that you can make ahead in large batches and eat all week; it keeps getting better with time.”
Brioche filled with Prosciutto, Gruyere Brioche with Prosciutto, Gruyere, and Egg.
“I love a good frisee salad,” says 1999 F&W Best New Chef Suzanne Goin. “And of course I love toasted, buttery bread, with big slabs of melted cheese and prosciutto and an egg on top.” The mouthwatering open-face sandwich has been a must-have at the A.O.C. wine bar since it began to open in Los Angeles in 2003 and blends all her favorite dishes.
Tuna Poke on Nori Crackers
At the Liholiho Yacht Club in San Francisco in 2016, F&W’s Top New Chef, Ravi Kapur, served his super-delicious version of the Hawaiian traditional tuna poke. It’s served on crispy nori crackers deep-fried in oil. A generous dollop of seasoned aioli makes the perfect topping. Kapur creates his aioli. However, any good-quality mayonnaise can be used as a substitute.
Louisiana Red Beans and Rice
“Everyone with roots in southern Louisiana, where red beans and rice is a staple, thinks that their mom makes the best version,” declares the 2019 F&W Best Chef 2019, Kwame Onwuachi. “But I’m the only one who’s right. Growing up, my mom used this recipe as a base, sometimes adding in smoked turkey necks or smoked, spiced, and cured tasso ham, in addition to the ham hocks and andouille sausage that impart their smoke, fat, and spice to the holy trinity (celery, bell peppers, and onions) and, of course, the sturdy red kidney beans.”
Black and white Pici Pasta with Squid and Shellfish
2014 F&W Best Chef Eli Kulp is the new chef who prepares this stunning seafood pasta dish using freshly made white and black noodles, which he mashes with a hefty, tangy seafood sauce. He finishes it off with a spicy cherry pepper pickled.
Chickpeas and Kale in Spicy Pomodoro
2010. F&W Top New Chef Missy Robbins from Brooklyn’s Lilia restaurant substitutes chickpeas for pasta in her recipe for spicy pomodoro. She then finishes the meal with a spritz of fresh herbs and a salty pecorino cheese.
Black Cod with Miso
A favorite of Nobu restaurants, the delicious sweet recipe has also been copied by chefs worldwide. 1989 F&W Best New Chef Nobu Matsuhisa marinates the cod in plenty of sake-miso marinade over up to three days. However, the fish can be excellent if marinated only for a few hours, soaking it in only enough miso and sake to cover.
“Spaghetti” with Poblano Cream and Crab
at Mi Tocaya Antojeria in Chicago in 2018, F&W The Best New Foodie Diana Davila’s “spaghetti” with poblano cream and crab captures everything she does in food. It’s inspired by a recipe her mom would make using broken and cooked noodles. Davila transforms it to 11 with sweet crabmeat, crisp shaved cauliflower, and an oozy egg. Poblano sauce is fresh and green due to the inclusion of freshly chopped spinach and cilantro.
Mixed Mushroom Ragout
The year 2011 F&W The Best New Foodie Stephanie Izard’s deliciously thick, smoky mushroom ragout is delicious on anything from seared halibut to cooked seafood and scallops. You can use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock to make a delicious vegan sauce.
Soft-Scrambled Eggs containing smoking Sablefish as well as Trout Roe
2000 F&W Best New Chef Andrew Carmellini’s lavish eggs are creamy and delicious, but serving them with smoky, sable, tangy roe and rich sour cream puts them above the rest.
Tofu Salad with Chestnuts and Apple Dashi
This elegant, light, easy-to-cook recipe features custardy, silken tofu served in a refreshing broth. This time in 2006, F&W Top New chef David Chang used umami-packed Shiro Dashi, a preserved Japanese broth, to make the base of the delicious broth. Stir into Fuji apple juice to get just the perfect level of sweetness.
Mexico-style Fideos with Chorizo
The 2013 F&W Top New Chef, Alex Stupak, believes that his style of contemporary Mexican cuisine is the product of reverse colonization. “It’s what happens when Mexico settles in New York,” he declares. As he describes them, Fideos is smoky, spicy, extremely smooth, and simple to prepare.
Snapper Escovitch
The 2017 F&W The Best Chef of 2017, Nina Compton of Compere Lapin in New Orleans, makes the most delicious rendition of Jamaican Escovitch. It combines the famous crispy fish pan-fried in spicy and sweet pepper sauce.
Curry-Coconut Clam Chowder, Papi-Style
One of the 2010 F&W Best New Chef Roy Choi’s first chef assignments included an L.A. country club where he prepared New England clam chowder every Friday. This version is lighter and contains Coconut milk, green curry paste, and lime juice.
The Tajarin is a Grilled Kale Pesto with grilled kale.
The combination of kamut and wheat flour makes his pasta delicious and gives it an excellent texture. The amount of egg yolks needed might sound like a lot, but they make Tajarin unique. The 2016 F&W The Best Chef Kevin Fink’s clever, simple Pesto made of grilled kale would be equally delicious on any available pasta.
Jumbo Brownies
“Like all great desserts, these brownies have only three pertinent flavors: chocolate, butter, and walnuts,” according to”1995 F&W Award-winning chef Anne Quatrano, who runs a small number of restaurants across Atlanta.
Crudites and Fermented Soybean Dip
To make her Crudites and Fermented Soybean dip, F&W Best New Chef Katianna Hung is straightforward in pairing freshly picked vegetables with a decadent, spicy, tangy Soy Dip. This dip is a perfect method to showcase the fresh produce you can grab.
Chilled Spring Pea Soup
1988 F&W Best New Chef Daniel Boulud puts this deliciously refreshing and fresh-tasting soup. It’s a blend of sweet peas and favas, snap peas, pea shoots, and snow peas available each spring. The recipe is inside the Cafe Boulud Cookbook. To simplify this recipe, you can skip the time-consuming fresh favas with the snow peas and pea shoots. Instead, add the frozen peas, sugar snaps, and baby peas.
Golden Chicken Thighs topped with Charred-Lemon and Golden Chicken. Salsa Verde
Ristorante Masolino, located in Panicale, Italy, has served chicken accompanied by capers and lemons for a long time. In 1990, F&W Top New Chef Nancy Silverton made the dish even more delicious by baking lemon slices so they’re lightly burned before mixing them into a spicy salsa verde. This sauce is a fantastic complement to these crisp-skinned chicken thighs and is equally delicious with roasted vegetables and fish.
Crispy Pork Belly stuffed with Kimchi Rice Grits, Peanuts and
2002 F&W Best New Chef Hugh Acheson makes an ingenious version of the Southern classic, substituting rice grits instead of traditional corn and mixing in Kimchi for crisp pork belly.
Bucatini served with Clams along with Red Peppers
1993 F&W Best New Chef Jody Adams’ take on pasta with clams has strips of sweet-roasted pepper, freshly toasted walnuts, herbs, and Middle Eastern flavors like pomegranate, molasses, and cumin.
Garlicky Roast Pork Shoulder
The Puerto Rican classic pernil is delicious because the 2013 F&W Best Chef Jose Enrique marinates the pork in citrus, lime juices, and plenty of garlic before roasting until the meat has crispy and caramelized. It can be cut, shredded, cut, or sliced into chunks for serving.
Grilled fruit along with Honeyed Lemon Thyme Vinegar
To make this delicious summer treat, 2002 F&W Best New Chef Dan Barber infuses honey with lemon thyme vinegar. He then drizzles it on grilled summer fruits.
The braised chicken’s thigh is topped with marinated Artichokes
For full flavor, F&W’s Top New chef, Naomi Pomeroy, doesn’t just roast chicken thighs to get the best taste. Instead, she crisps the skin and then braises the pieces in a flavorful mixture of marinated artichokes, garlic, olives, sherry lemon, and Thyme.
Spicy Shrimp that has been Grilled and served and Yuzu Kosho Pesto
Yuzu Kosho is a spicy, sweet, spicy, and aromatic Japanese condiment made of hot chiles and a super-fruity zest of yuzu. It’s the main ingredient in this delicious and easy recipe from 2011 F&W Top New Chef Ricardo Zarate of Mo-Chica in Los Angeles.
Pork-Kimchi Dumpling Pancakes
San Francisco star 2012 F&W Best New Chef Corey Lee ingeniously reinvents pan-fried dumplings by adding batter that transforms dumplings into a single flat, crisp pancake.
Prime Rib, with the tangy Cherry Conserva Truffle and Chocolate
2017. F&W The Best Chef of 2017, Angie Mar, is a master of meat, as evident in this vast, over-the-top, delicious dry-aged beef roast. Mar’s trick is taking the roast out of the oven and cooking it for 30 minutes throughout its cooking time. This results in perfectly cooked, juicy, and tender meat throughout the roast.
Ultimate Buttermilk-Marinated Fried Chicken Breasts
2019. F&W Top New Chef Caroline Glover butterflies chicken breast to speed up and make cooking easy. The chicken is given an initial dip in an easy brine before being an additional soak in buttermilk to produce delicious, perfectly seasoned chicken cooked to perfection and fried up crisp. The recipe tastes delicious by itself, but if you like it, take it to an even higher level, including this recipe with the Glover’s Fried Chicken Sandwiches served with Anchovy and Garlic Dressing.
Basque Cheesecake
2020 F&W Best New Chef Tavel Bristol-Joseph bakes a perfect creamy cheesecake without a water bath, the chance of cracking, or a sunken-looking top by incorporating cream whipped with heavy cream into the batter. For the cake to be made appropriately, it is necessary to heat it. The more caramelized it becomes, the more creamy and sweeter the batter gets, intensifying the flavor.
Pancit Miki Bihon
“Pancit is a catch-all term for noodle dishes in the Philippines — and there are so many variations of pancit,” states the 2021 F&W Top New Chef Carlo Lamagna. The pancit combines two kinds of noodles: bihon (long, thin noodles typically made of cornstarch or rice flour) and miki (egg noodles).
King Oyster Mushroom Steaks topped with Pesto along with Almond Aillade
2018. F&W Top New Chef Julia Sullivan employs buttery roasted almonds to counterbalance the sharper flavors of lemon and garlic in this rusty French sauce served over cooked and seared mushroom steaks at Henrietta Red in Nashville. Use her recipe for tenderness with crisp edges.
Salad Poached with Salt Cod, topped with Sweet Peppers
2004 F&W Best New Chef Melissa Perello features pieces of mildly sweet and pleasantly chewy poached salt cod in this delicious salad made of fresh peppers, purr, slane cherries, and herbs. After being soaked in water for a few hours to replenish them and eliminate salt, the cod fillets are poached in a bath with garlic, olive oil, bay leaf, Thyme, and bay leaf, adding flavor and allowing the fish to gain tenderness. The oil that has cooled and the aromatics are then removed and incorporated into a parsley-based dressing to dress the salad, grill the sweet peppers, and infuse flavors into each element of the dish.
